Tools

A true actors’ picnic. Oliver (Ewan McGregor), an unfulfilled Los Angeles graphic artist, has weighty parental issues with the memories of his late mother (Mary Page Keller), a bitter woman, and his father (Christopher Plummer), who came out as a gay man when his wife died after 44 years of marriage. The soap-opera-style plot is draped in heavy folds of sadness, but the acting rescues it. Barely. Writer-director Mike Mills (Thumbsucker) has a number of issues on his mind, but the chief one seems to be the transitory nature of happiness and the fragility of the search for it. Beware the dog, a cute little guy named Arthur. French actor Mélanie Laurent (The Concert) brings a breath of fresh air to the proceedings as Oliver’s new girlfriend (104 min.)
ByKelly Vance